Cascade sees a bright future for land where mill once stood

Boise nursery will clean site, give it to the city

The residents of Cascade may soon see something good come out of the 2001 closure of the Boise Cascade lumber mill.

Community leaders are excited about a proposal by a Boise businessman that would give the community the bulk of the land where the former mill once stood.

Ken Dey
The Idaho Statesman

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040626/NEWS02/406260338/1029

That land could ultimately allow for the expansion of the county fairgrounds, the construction of a swimming pool, spa and recreation center and possibly even a logging museum to highlight the area’s history.

"This is definitely a dream come true," said Yvette Davis, chairman of the board for the Southern Valley County Recreation District.

The excitement follows an agreement Boise Cascade Corp. reached this month with Cloverdale Nursery and Turf Farm in Boise to clean up 80 acres of the 100-acre site.

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Boise Cascade’s changing focus

When Boise Cascade closed its sawmills in Cascade and Emmett in 2001, they were the company’s last remaining mills in Idaho that could process trees harvested from the company’s more than 190,000 acres of timber holdings.

The company is still harvesting timber from its land in Idaho, but those logs are now trucked to the company’s mill in La Grande, Ore., according to company spokesman Doug Bartels.
The company still owns a plywood mill in Emmett and the Horseshoe Bend site where a mill was closed in 1998. Bartels said the Emmett site still has a mill that is used to manufacture laminated beams, while the Horseshoe Bend site has a small operation that produces appearance-grade lumber for pine shelving and other uses.

Last year the company started auctioning off some of its timberland for potential development. During auctions in the spring and fall of 2003 Boise Cascade sold more than 10,000 acres of land that was primarily located in the Cascade and McCall areas.

This spring the company put another 5,900 acres of land up for auction, most of it in areas between McCall and the Tamarack Resort. Some of the significant properties being auctioned in this round include 613 acres overlooking Smith’s Ferry, and 347 acres next to Blackhawk Ranch south of McCall which overlooks the north fork of the Payette River.

Bids on these parcels are due by July 15. Interested bidders should contact Realty Marketing Northwest in Portland at 1-800-845-3524 or visit the Web site at http://www.rmnw-auctions.com.

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In exchange for the cleanup, Boise Cascade agreed to give the 80 acres where the mill’s two log yards were located to Cloverdale Nursery.

Hans Borbonus, the owner of Cloverdale Nursery, said once the cleanup is completed, he’ll give the land to the community.

Borbonus said Cloverdale is cleaning up the log yards to reclaim the many decades of sawdust and woodchip buildup. They’re using the material, estimated to exceed 1 million cubic yards, as compost for their nursery and to sell throughout Idaho.

Borbonus, 69, a native of Germany, left Switzerland in 1958 and arrived in Boise where he started Cloverdale. He said the land donation is a great way to give something back for all the success he’s enjoyed.

"I’ve had good teachers in life who taught me that giving is more rewarding than taking," Borbonus said.

Cloverdale Nursery has six years to complete the cleanup, but Borbonus said it could be completed sooner.

While the cleanup progresses, Borbonus is asking community leaders to set up a committee to work on a master plan for the site.

Valley County Clerk Lee Heinrich said the county and the South Valley County Recreation District have already met with Borbonus to discuss possibilities at the site.

Heinrich said the county would like to use a portion of the site to expand the fairgrounds, and the recreation district is considering building a recreation center and swimming pool on the site.

One of the things that makes the site attractive for a pool or even a spa complex is the two warm-water wells on the site that were once used to heat the mill.

Borbonus would also like to see the site used for a museum complex that could include the history of logging in the area.

All the ideas sound good to Heinrich and others who had feared that the mill site would be sold and commercially developed.

Davis said the Southern Valley County Recreation District was formed four years ago to look at locations for a recreation center and a larger fairgrounds.

Before Borbonus approached the community, Davis said they had been looking at a 20-acre site on the north end of Cascade. She said the mill site is superior because it’s larger and also has easy access to Idaho 55.

If the community can come up with the right plan for the site and find funding, it could prove to be a big economic boon to the community and help draw more tourism to the area, according to Ron Lundquist, general manager of The Ashley Inn in Cascade, which opened in August of 2003.

"It won’t replace the number of jobs and wages that the mill brought in, but it’s a huge step forward rather than having a dormant industrial site sit vacant for years," said Lundquist, who worked at the mill when it was still operating.

Doug Bartels, a spokesman for Boise Cascade, said the company is retaining the 20 acres where the actual mill was located because of some possible contamination from oil residues leftover from the plant.

Bartels said that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is currently assessing the level of contamination.

Boise Cascade will be responsible for that cleanup.

Boise Cascade said it would give Cloverdale Nursery first option to buy those 20 acres if they are put up for sale.